Song of the Malfoy Magpies
by JailyForever
Summary: A magpie is intrigued by the Malfoy family. My entry for Round 3 of QLFC.
**A/N:**

 **Written for Round 3 of QLFC**

 **Team:** Montrose Magpies

 **Position:** Beater 2

 **Prompts:** (Word) Destiny, (Word) Cosmos, (Emotion) Surprise

 **Word Count Restriction** : 1501-1750

 **Word Count:** 1712

* * *

Song of the Malfoy Magpies

The magpie perched on the tree branch outside Malfoy Manor looking through the window as Abraxas Malfoy took his last few gasping breathes. His son and daughter-in-law sobbed over his body. Neither member of the couple noticed the bird's presence as he fluttered over to the window ledge for a closer look at the scene before him. To the onlooking magpie they appeared to be a natural grieving couple, but as the bird zoned in on the face of the man peeking out over his wife's shoulder he noticed the slight glint in his eyes.

The loss of a family member was never easy, and the magpie knew this. He had witnessed many grieving families over the years, but never one like the Malfoys. It was clear to him that the grief of the female was very real; however he could not fathom why the man appeared to be almost happy in the midst of his grief.

Human behaviour baffled him sometimes.

Surely the cosmos had made some mistake in sending him here now. There was no sorrow coming from the true-born Malfoy.

He shuffled along the window ledge and pricked his ears to hear what the couple were saying. The Malfoy couple had intrigued him more than any human (witch, wizard or Muggle) had before, and he was keen to find out more, to find out the real reason why he had be sent to the Malfoy household today.

* * *

Lucius stroked Narcissa's hair as fresh tears wet the fabric of his robe. He pressed his lips together as he tried to fight the joyous outburst of laughter now that he had finally inherited his father's fortune.

"What did your father mean, Lucius?" Narcissa sniffled quietly, "When he said, 'Beware the magpies.'"

"I don't know, Cissy," he answered quietly, equally confused by his father's final words. "He always hated them though. He once attempted to convince me they were a curse on the Malfoy family."

Narcissa pulled away from him and looked at him with worried eyes.

"You don't think –" she began before doubling and letting out a cry of pain.

"Cissy," Lucius whispered softly as his wife clutched her stomach. "What is it?"

"The baby," she said staring at him with terrified eyes. "Something's wrong. I – I think I'm losing it."

Lucius shook his head in denial. He scooped his wife up into his arms and carried her over to the armchair in the corner of the room.

"You must be mistaken, Narcissa," he told her as he drew his wand from the inside of his robe. "No wife of a Malfoy has ever lost a child, and you will not be the first."

He muttered an incantation and waved his wand. When nothing happened he tried again and again; each attempt with the same result - nothing.

Narcissa placed her hand on her husband's wrist as he began to utter the charm for the fifth time.

"Lucius, the baby is gone," she said sadly as fresh tears spilled from her eyes. "Please accept it."

"No," he said shaking his head. "I must have the charm wrong, or –"

A soft tapping on the window broke Lucius out of his reasoning and his head snapped in that direction.

"Magpie," he hissed.

The wizard took three quick steps towards the window and flung it open.

"Shoo," he shouted, waving his free hand at it. "Go away, you hideous bird."

The magpie quickly fluttered it's wings and took flight to the nearby tree, and Lucius closed the window.

Perhaps father was right, he thought to himself as he closed the window behind him and made his way back to his tearful wife. Maybe magpies are a curse on the family.

* * *

The magpie was back again at the same tree less than three months later, and this time he had the company of one of his many loyal and faithful companions.

The two magpies looked through the very same window where Lucius and Narcissa sat on the bed holding each other's hands.

The witch held a thin, plastic stick in her free hand. The couple's eyes never left it as they appeared to wait for something to happen.

Suddenly the young couple embraced each other tightly with broad grins on their face. The magpie figured that they must have got the outcome they had been waiting for.

Once again the magpie found himself intrigued as to what could bring a smile to the face of a man who appeared to have taken pleasure out of his own father's death.

He fluttered his wings and took flight to the window ledge, his companion not far behind him, and listened.

"A child," he heard the witch say softly. "We're going to have a baby."

The two magpies exchanged looks and chirped their congratulations. They remained there unnoticed as they watched on fondly whilst the Malfoys celebrated their news.

As they fluttered away the blonde wizard's eyes fell on them as they disappeared into the distance.

* * *

Little more than a month had passed by before the magpie was back. This time he had two companions with him in the large tree on the front garden of Malfoy Manor.

The rain was pouring heavily as two figures, a man and a woman, hurried up the front path. The magpie's interest was piqued and he wondered if he would find out about the purpose of this visit.

They watched on as the male rapped on the front door and waited for someone to arrive at the door.

After several moments the magpie saw the man who he knew to be the master of the house open the door, and welcome them inside.

As he closed the door the magpies noticed that Lucius' eyes rested on the tree they were perched in for a few beats before slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

"It's about time," Lucius said in a gruff voice when his guests were seated. "Four months I've been waiting. Would you care to explain why it has taken this long for the Ministry to produce the paperwork to transfer my father's assets to me?"

The Ministry official glanced to the woman at his side nervously.

"It has not been so simple, Mr. Malfoy. There are no records of your father's will at the Ministry and with another heir coming forwards –"

"What do you mean by another heir?" Lucius seethed. "I am my father's sole heir. How can there be another? Her?"

"Your father had an affair with my mother. He is my dad too," the woman admitted, her eyes never leaving the ground.

Lucius' jaw dropped as she spoke those words. He had known that his parents' marriage hadn't been a happy one, but for him to have an affair and have a child that no one knew about was surprising.

He was a man who had preached about fidelity and honouring the Malfoy name. Was his father a hypocrite?

"That is preposterous. Abraxas Malfoy was an upstanding pure-blood wizard, and would never bring shame on his family," Narcissa hissed in a cold voice. "Lucius, you mentioned your father kept all of his important documents in his study. Perhaps he has a copy in there and we can be rid of this imposter."

Lucius smiled at his wife and nodded his head curtly. "I shall return soon. Narcissa, see to it that our guests have a drink whilst they wait," he said before he made his way towards the door.

As soon as he was out of the lounge, Lucius raced towards his father's study. It was the one room that he and Narcissa had yet to clear out and put their mark on.

When he reached the study he shoved open the door and tore through the room like a mad man, searching for the will. He could not allow someone else to lay claim to what was his.

He had not nursed his father through that wretched illness and allowed himself to be at his beck and call for nothing.

He writhed open a drawer and grinned to himself as he found a folded up piece of parchment that was stamped with the official seal, that meant it could only be opened by the appropriate authorities.

Lucius placed it in the inside pocket of his robe, and just as he was about to close the drawer his eyes fell on his father's precious silver tin. He remembered growing up how his father had forbidden him touching it, and whenever Abraxas had caught him looking at it he would snatch it from his sight.

"Let's see what you were hiding in here, father," Lucius whispered to himself as he lifted the tin from the drawer and placed it on the desk.

As Lucius opened the tin the grin on his face slipped away as he saw an ancient piece of parchment.

This was what his father had been so protective of. What could possibly be so special about a piece of parchment?

A secret perhaps?

He opened it and read the contents with eager eyes.

 _Song of the Malfoy Magpies_

 _One for Sorrow_

 _Two for joy_

 _Three for a girl_

 _Four for a boy_

 _Five for silver_

 _Six for gold_

 _Seven for a secret never to be told_

 _Eight for a wish_

 _Nine for a kiss_

 _Ten a surprise you should be careful not to miss_

 _Eleven for health_

 _Twelve for wealth_

 _Thirteen beware it's the devil himself_.

Lucius placed the parchment onto the desk.

"Beware the magpies."

Those had been his father's final words, and now he understood.

They were the bringers of fortune, both good and ill, and now that they were done with his father, they had started with him.

One magpie on the day his wife had miscarried their first child, and two magpies when he found out that Narcissa was pregnant again. And just now there had been three magpies staring at him when that girl had shown up.

His eyes fell on the fourth line of the song. Four for a boy. Surely that must mean that Narcissa would give him a strong male heir.

If his destiny had to be dictated by this song, then at least he would have a son and heir by his wife.

 **A/N:**

 **Let me know your thoughts in a review**

 **All feedback is appreciated**

 **xoxo**


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